Growing up, my youngest brother was obsessed with lawn mowers and tractors. He used to sit outside my grandmother’s house for hours watching the tractors in the fields. He would constantly beg to mow the lawn at home. I never understood the obsession but these Lawn Mower Cupcakes just make me think of him. Maybe it’s a boy thing?

If you have little boys in your life then these Lawn Mower Cupcakes will definitely be a big hit with them. They are easy to make and almost too cute to eat!

DIRECTIONS FOR CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grease muffin pan or line pan with cupcake liners.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs to the creamed butter, one at a time, beating well with each addition.
6. Stir in the vanilla extract.
7. Add half of the flour and half of the milk and beat well.
8. Add the remaining flour and milk and beat until well-incorporated.
9. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.
10. Bake 15-17 minutes at 350 degrees or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
11. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes.
12. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to finish the cooling process.
13. Ice the cupcakes when completely cooled.

DIRECTIONS FOR GREEN “GRASS” ICING
1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter.
2. With an electric mixer on low, add half of the sugar until well blended.
3. Add the rest of the sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth.
4. Add food green gel until you reach your desired color of dark green grass.
5. NOTE: to thin icing, add 1 T milk and to thicken icing, add 1 T powdered sugar.

HOW TO MAKE ‘GRASS’ ICING ON CUPCAKES

1. Fill 3/4 decorating bag with green icing and attach a Wilton #233 tip.
2. Hold the decorating bag straight up and squeeze to create a glass blade.
3. Immediately after squeezing pull up and away when the icing strand is about 1/2 inch. Stop squeezing and pull tip away.
4. Be sure to keep the strands together so none of the cupcake shows through.
5. NOTE: for a more natural grass look, you can pull the tip slightly to the left or right.

RICE KRISPIES TREATS

DIRECTIONS
1. Line a 13×9 pan with foil and spray with Pam. Set aside.
2. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over low heat.
3. Add the marshmallows to the melted butter, stirring constantly.
4. Once the marshmallows are melted, remove from heat and stir in the cereal, salt and vanilla until well-coated.
5. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the cereal mixture to prepared pan and press down evenly.
6. Allow the Rice Krispies Treats to cool in the pan completely before cutting into even squares to resemble the base of a lawnmower.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE LAWNMOWER

Ingredients

Rice Krispie squares (cut from recipe above)

Mini Oreos

Mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

Bendable straws

Leftover icing from cupcakes

Instructions

1. Take a mini Oreo and spread a small amount of frosting on the back of the cookie and press firmly on the side of the Rice Krispie to resemble a wheel of the lawn mower.

2. Repeat step 1 three more times until you have 2 “wheels” on each side of the Rice Krispies square.

3. Cut a miniature peanut butter cup in half.

4. Spread a small amount of frosting on the front of the peanut butter cup and place on the Rice Krispies square to resemble the “motor.”

5. Take 2 bendable straws and cut them shorter to your desired height.

6. With a scissors, make a very tiny slit at the end of each straw to make it easier to push one end of a straw into the other one so they resemble the handle to a lawn mower.